Mandy Mills

My relationship with yoga started in 1998. Over the years I dipped in and out and tried as many yoga styles as I could lay my mat down in front of; including Iyengar, Ashtanga, Hatha, and more recently Jivamukti.

In 2002, following a life changing trip to Thailand, I retrained as a holistic therapist. Teaching my passion for yoga was the next natural step and I trained and was awarded the Yoga Alliance 200 hr Hatha Yoga Teacher Training certificate with Yoga Alliance, Senior Yoga Teacher, Barry Todd of Mind and Body and more recently I completed the Yoga Alliance Asthanga teacher training under the tutelage of Brian Cooper and Nichi Green.

I am on a journey to share yoga, holistic health & wellbeing to help to assist you with nudging away old habitual patterns and welcome in change and personal growth.

For me it’s not just the physical side of yoga, I love to teach and to practice yoga so that it not only helps to build a strong and flexible body, it also naturally seeps into our everyday lives and helps us to become calmer, more compassionate and happier human beings.

I look forward to seeing you on the mat! Yoga is for everybody, or as Sri. K.Pattabhi Jois, the founder of Ashtanga Yoga said “Ashtanga yoga is for all people, old people, young people, fat people, skinny people, only not lazy people.”

Ashtanga yoga is practised in a sequential order with each posture (asana) opening the body in preparation for the next. When practised over time, the practitioner will enter a moving meditation, and will build strength, balance and flexibility equally and acquire a steadiness of body and mind. “Ashtanga” literally means eight limbs. The eight limbs are described Yama (abstinences), Niyama (observances), Asana (postures), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyahara (sense withdrawal), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation), and Samadhi (contemplation). These limbs support each other.

The Ashtanga system of yoga uses, Breath, Drishti (gaze) and Bandhas (energy locks) combined with asanas, the practice is satisfying, strong and dynamic.

Vinyasa Flow Yoga Vinyasa means “movement linked with breath.” Asanas are sequenced together to build towards a peak asana. This style of yoga is often quite dynamic, which requires the mind to stay focused in the present. The term vinyāsa refers to the alignment of movement and breath, which turns static asanas (poses) into a flow, moving from one to the other continuously. The length of one inhale or one exhale dictates the length of time spent transitioning between asanas. Attention is placed on the breath and the journey between the asanas rather than solely on achieving perfect body alignment in a pose, as in Hatha Yoga.

Hatha Yoga All yoga styles originate from Hatha Yoga, which literally translates to “Ha” represents sun and “tha” represents moon, Hatha yoga helps us to work towards balance, releasing tension and creates space to find balance and connection so easily lost through modern day living. Hatha usually is a slowly-paced and gentle approached class, consisting of asanas. It’s great for those new to yoga as time is spent concentrating on alignment and use of breath.